LOG 01: Legend of a Street Rat
by ShadowDrake
Summary: AU - Trek Universe... forget everything you ever thought you knew about the Enterprise-D and Tasha Yar. This is the universe were all the cool stuff happens totally ignoring mainstream canon. Ain't it great? :-D


Title: Legend of a Street Rat (1/?)  
Series: Star Trek: Forgotten Universe  
Author: ShadowDrake {a.k.a. Shadowlander}  
Email: Shadowlander1@coastalnet.com - or - Tankesly@rocketmail.com  
Rating: PG-13 {mainly for language and violence for the moment}  
Disclaimer: Star Trek: The Next Generation and all associated characters belong to Paramount Pictures Inc., and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.  
Achieve: If you want it you got, just let me know where it is going so I can drop by and visit it every now and then.  
Notes: This is set in an alternate universe, where pretty much all the silly stuff is NEVER going to happen. {Don't make me name episodes! We all know the silly ones by heart.} Other then that, anything is possible. :)  
  
STAR TREK: FORGOTTEN UNIVERSE  
Log 01: Legend of a Street Rat  
  
Prologue:  
  
Command Observation Lounge  
0258.23 hours  
  
"We have been ordered into the Turkana system."  
  
Will Riker looked at his commanding officer in disbelief, his sleep addled mind not quite awake to follow the conversation. As far as he knew the Turkana system, while on the outer edge of Federation space, was still considered to be in 'friendly territory' and really didn't warrant a visit from the flagship of the fleet. Not much ever happened in the system, even the Ferengi avoided it, not enough business opportunities for their taste. The place was just avoided by most space faring races, and having been there his self once, he could understand why. The place made any planet in the Klingon Empire look tame. Then he remembered exactly why the name was so important, his eyes widening in shock as a cold chill settled itself in the pit of his stomach.   
  
'Oh this is bad,' he told himself, suddenly wide awake as numerous possibilities for their detour to the dreaded system played themselves out in his mind, all of them bad. There was a reason nobody ever went to the system, or more importantly to the hellhole that used to be a Federation colony nestled on the fourth planet from the sun. Not many people liked dealing with the corrupt elements that seemed to swallow up the unsuspecting with little regard for the innocent, and then there were the inhabitance of the colony.   
  
People who had lost all hope years ago, as their government collapsed around them while the environment turned on them in the form of natural disasters that left very little to rebuild. If anyone ever cared about rebuilding on Turkana Four after the "terrors", the survivors of the bloody civil war and natural disasters were more interested in taking what they could get. Only on Turkana Four did the phase "only the strong survive", have any real meaning, and words like "compassion", "dignity", "self-respect" was a part of a lost language buried with the slain nearly a century ago in bloody conflict.  
  
Riker also recalled the other reason why the name was so important, at least, to one other member of the senior command staff. Why the name was so hated, he could never recall actually hearing it spoken by the young Lieutenant in question. It had always been "the colony", the words spoken like they left a bitter aftertaste, and Riker reasoned, they probably did to Tasha Yar. Unlike the first officer, whose exposure to Turkana Four was limited to twelve hours, Yar had a lifetime of memories to draw from. Memories that still haunted her dreams, refusing to release their hold over her even she as fled to the relative safety of deep space.   
  
"Why?"  
  
The question cut through the silence that had descended over the group seated around the conference table, startling some with its lack of emotion. At first Riker had thought it was Data who had spoken, but quickly dismissed the possibility. Mainly do to the fact the android second officer seemed to be the only one not effected by the earlier announcement and was sitting patiently for the Captain to continue. That and the voice had been female, a voice Riker was not use to hearing without some trace of annoyance, if not out right anger. Gathering his courage he turned his attention to the source of the question, having to consciously force himself not to cringe at what he saw in Tasha Yar's eyes. Or more to the point, what he didn't see in the usual expressive blue/gray eyes that seemed to bore through the captain. The inner fire he had come to expect from her was gone, replaced by a coldness that seemed to pulsate with something that wasn't quite human. In all Riker was certain he would never be able to close his eyes again without seeing that cold look staring back at him.  
  
Captain Jean-Luc Picard showed no sign that he was effected by the look in Yar's eyes or the apparent lack of respect in her voice when she had spoken the one word question. Unlike Riker, his exposure to the unique horrors of Turkana Four was not limited to mere hours in a relatively controlled atmosphere. Picard had seen the ugly side of the colony, the side that made the aftermath of World War III look organized, if not down right civilized. "A shuttle craft carrying Ambassador Tra'mon of Delkoa, was shot down over the colony while attempting to outrun an Orion warship. The Ambassador and his party are believed to have survived the crash and are now being held somewhere in the city." Picard replied calmly, his eyes locking with those of his somewhat unpredictable Security Chief.  
  
"If the cadre have them, they're died." Yar snorted, with little humour. "If the 'Lords got them first, they could be alive, for a time." She allowed after a moment, a shadow briefly crossing her features, as unwanted memories flash through her mind. "Hard to say which."  
  
"Starfleet Command agrees with your theories Lieutenant, there is very little we know about the colony. If the Ambassador and his party have survived, we have to get them out, quickly." Picard continued, "As a native of the colony you know the layout of the city and much of the lower catacombs, both make you the ideal choice to lead the away team. Your mission is to locate the shuttle craft survivors and get them out." He finished, pushing aside his own misgivings about sending his security chief back into a world she nearly died escaping from. Lieutenant Yar was the only person within Starfleet who had the best change of getting those people safely back. He just wasn't sure if he could live with what it would cost the young officer both physically and emotionally. Picard was certain it would be a cost unimaginable by any of them.  
  
End Part One. 


End file.
